I would like to make you aware that the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) and the Department of Health (DOH) have placed additional requirements on school districts within the substantial transmission category. Bradford County has been at this level for the past 8 weeks. Every district in Pennsylvania in the substantial category has been required to sign an Attestation Form in order to provide in-person instruction. This form can be found on our district website. The form requires school districts to follow the Updated Order of the Secretary of the PA Department of Health Requiring Universal Face Coverings AND the Recommendations for Pre-K to 12 Schools Following Identification of a Case(s) of COVID-19. I have hyperlinked these two documents, but they can also be found on our website.
Even though our students have been doing a nice job wearing their masks, the new order does bring a few changes. Cloth face coverings are preferred over face shields, which should only be worn as a last resort. Also, masks must now be worn by students at recess, during physical education class, and during athletic competitions. Students will continue to get 10-minute mask breaks several times throughout the day. Although we all may have our personal opinions on this issue, we must adhere to this new order to be able to provide in-person instruction.
With regards to responding to cases (staff and students) of COVID-19 within our buildings, districts are required to move those buildings to remote learning based on a matrix provided by PDE and the DOH. Although this matrix is not new, it now moves from a recommendation to a requirement. The length of the closure of the building is based on the number of cases within a building during 14-day time frames. This is not a significant change for our district. We have closed certain buildings periodically as cases have developed. This can be done by building as opposed to needing the entire district to move to remote learning.
I understand that this all can be a bit confusing, so I have provided several resources on our district website under the COVID-19 section. As always, feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns you may have. I will always do my best to answer them.
Lastly, we look forward to seeing our students again in person on December 7. Here are a few things that you can do to help keep our doors open during this difficult time.
- Screen your students for symptoms before sending them to school each day. The symptom check form is on our website.
- If your student has symptoms, PLEASE keep them home. Do not assume that any symptoms are not COVID-19 related and possibly some other type of illness. At this time, extra caution is what is needed. We will be very lenient with attendance this year.
- If there are any potential COVID-19 situations within your household/family, take a cautious approach. Call our nurse at 570-268-2060 with any questions you may have regarding potential situations.
- Communicate with us if testing is being conducted that may impact your child coming to school.
- Follow the Pennsylvania travel requirement if your student has traveled outside of PA. Students may return with a negative COVID-19 test or following a 14-day quarantine period.
- Send your student with a clean mask to school every day. Face shields should only be used as a last resort.
As a community, the key to our success is to continue working together as we strive to keep our students, faculty, and staff safe and healthy. Thank you again for working collaboratively with the district as we navigate through this public health crisis together. Stay safe and stay healthy.